Four Letter Word
by The River Lethe
Summary: After a fight with Cupid- Both Nico and Jason land with cupid's arrows on their bodies. A little later, after healing, things start to happen. Jason starts noticing things about Nico he never noticed before and Nico... well Nico's just driving himself crazy. They go a long way just to admit what they feel for each other-it can't be put in a four letter word. [No Gaea] [Jasico] [AU]
1. Prolouge

**[I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON OR HEROES OF OLYMPUS]**

**0. Prologue **

"_Cupid's arrows may strike a person to notice the other- but after that, it's all up to them." _–Elgar Twine

"Hey Pipes? What do you know about Cupid?" Jason awkwardly asks the daughter of Aphrodite, hoping to get some answers out of her.

She eyes him cautiously with those haunting kaleidoscope eyes of hers and flips another page of her magazine but doesn't reply. Jason wouldn't blame her. Ever since he got back from Split he hadn't talked to anyone for hours until now. Finally, she replied.

"You mean Cupid, like the fat winged baby in a huge diaper that he probably never changes that shoots people to fall in love?" Piper says in a monotone. Normally, Jason would have laughed at her version of Cupid, but Jason was not in the mood. What she said made him shiver of what happened a couple hours ago at Split.

"Jason," She cautiously says, looking up from her magazine and warily pushes her hair back. "You and Nico have been acting really weird ever since Split. Did something happen?"

"_Nothing Happened_" I lied to her and to myself. "We just went- got the sceptre and left a message for Reyna and left."

"Then what's with all the weird questions?" She asks,her eyes quizzical.

"Because I was just thinking how weird a baby flying and shooting people is weird." He said. Piper sourly looked at him. "And that you're related to him." He added. That helped. Piper smiled a little and went back to her magazine.

"I'm related to a fat, winged, baby in a huge diaper that causes people to fall in love. I feel so honored." She says and rests her head on her hand. Jason slips out the chair and tip toes away from a puzzled Piper- completely unaware that a son of Hades was resting in the shadows overhearing the conversation and wondering the same things Jason was.

* * *

"Leo... what do you know about Cupid?" Jason leaned back on the wall as Leo tinkered with more things.

"I know he's a baby and he shoots people. Therefore I conclude he's crazy and needs help." Leo daintily says as he pulls out a bolt from his belt. "Why'd you ask?"

"Oh- just- cause... I was wondering."

Leo looked unsatisfied. "Did something happen at Split? It sure feels like it- you and Nico are acting all awkward and unsure."

Jason lets out a scoff to ease the tension and speaks his mind.

"Well- something happened-"Jason begins, about to tell Leo about what happened earlier at Split. But then a shuffle from behind the doors stops him.

"What happened exactly?"

"Oh- well we found the sceptre but-"

"But...? Jeez Jason you can't expect me to say much if all you're going to give me is parts of the story." Leo mumbles, pushing a gear and a bolt together.

"But I don't how to work it." Jason finally says. Lying through his teeth. That wasn't what he wanted to say. No he wanted to say "_Oh me and Nico fought Cupid you know? And he shot both of us and now I'm freaking out_" But he could never say that. He wouldn't dare.

"Oh Gods Jason. Leave Nico to do that." Leo says, lying back.

"And-"

"And?"

"What are you making?" Jason once again said something he wasn't meaning to say.

"I don't know." Leo says, pulling the contraption out of his pocket and dropping it on the ground. "You really are acting weird Jason, you know that right?"

"I do."

* * *

_Did Jason even hear my secret? Of course he did, he asked if I wanted to talk about it. Why am I thinking about this?_ Multiple thoughts rattled Nico's brain as he escaped from behind the door of Leo's room. Yet the same questions Jason had asked Leo and Piper were racking Nico's brain.

Nico ran his hands through his shaggy hair and walked out of the hallway into the Mess hall where Piper was still flipping through her magazine and Annabeth and Percy were chatting. Frank was messing around with the Chinese Finger Cuffs and Hazel was trying to help him.

When he entered, Percy immediately looked up and brightly stood up and walked over to Nico. Percy set his hands onto his sides and grinned at Nico.

"Did you figure out how to work the scepter yet?" Percy asked, hair flopping over his face.

_Gods I can't look at him_ Nico thought.

"Uh-"His voice cracked. "No! No..." He mumbled. Man, way to act weird. He thought to himself. Percy frowned as if detecting something weird.

"Is something wrong? You and Jason have been acting really dodgy since you've gotten back from Split. I mean seriously. Piper agrees with me."

"_Dodgy_?" Nico narrows his eyes and still avoids eye contact with Percy.

"Yeah like... weird. Avoiding almost."

"I'm always like that." Nico shrugs and gets ready to walk out when Percy's hand lands on the back of Nico's shoulder, causing Nico to freeze.

"Stay with us and eat food for once." Percy says with sincerity in his voice. Nico and Percy stay there for a little until Leo and Jason are heard chatting down the hallway.

"If you think about it- we use the stables for nothing. " Jason mumbles.

"Jason, c'mon man, we'll use them sometime I guess. I just wanted them animals to come and go." Leo says, shoving his hands into his pockets and then they turn the corner to see a frozen Nico and Percy.

"Um." Leo says. "What are you two doing? You mind if I can get through and shove food into your damn stomachs like your mother?"

"I'm not eating here." Nico coldly says and walks out of the room. He didn't know why he'd went there in the first place. Avoiding Jason's eye contact, Nico speed walks down towards the Galley. Just because he didn't want to eat with the others didn't mean he didn't want to eat.

He grabs a pomegranate and opens the door to check if there's anyone out there- there wasn't- so he rushes downstairs to the Stables. After all, what could be better than eating a pomegranate after being shot by the legendary cupid's arrows?


	2. Nico and The Stables

**[I DON'T OWN PERCY JACKSON OR HEROES OF OLYMPUS]**

**1. Nico and The Stables**

"_I'm bi polar when I'm nervous"- Michondra Lowe_

Nico slowly walked down to the stables- skipping steps with a straight face and clutching a pomegranate tightly. He walked into the stables and paused in the darkness, the odd smell of horse things had finally settled to his nose after so many times eating down here, looking around it was always the same as it had been since he had started eating pomegranates here, he ate nothing else. Nico walked straight into a stable and sat himself down in it, closing the door so that no one could see him, just in case. His hair was in his face- lazy enough- Nico blew it out of his face and smacked the pomegranate to crack it open. Seeds spilled out as he grabbed after them and slowly took them to his mouth and chewed them.

The seeds burst in his mouth for a brief moment of cool juice, and he closes his eyes and breathes in deeply. The fight in Split completely tired him out, and he couldn't stop thinking about Cupid.

"_The cursed man_..." Nico thought to himself as he threw another seed into his mouth and sighed. Trying to push Cupid out he thinks of how the pomegranate isn't filling his stomach, sooner or later his pomegranate is left from his hand into his stomach, which is growling gently. Nico groans and lies back on the flat, cold ground and tries not to think of food.

"_Food" _both his mind and stomach growls

"_No."_Nico thinks. As if his stomach were to argue with him, it growled ferociously. Nico turned over from his back to his face on the ground and closed his eyes, and breathed in the cool air. It tingled his nose and face, a small feeling of being alive entered his body. He could feel. Right. He'd forgotten. The things he'd wanted to keep close had left and the things he didn't want to remember had stayed with him. Nico was feeling like such a drag because of what had happened at Split. Who was he kidding, he was always a drag.

"_I had a crush on Percy Jackson!_"

Nico shuddered and pushed away the thought. Or at least tried, several times. But he kept thinking of how Jason looked at him and how at any moment Jason could spill the beans. Luckily at that thought Nico was distracted momentarily, the thought of Jason grabbing multiple cans of beans and spilling them everywhere, Nico chuckled at the thought a little.

"What are you laughing at?" A soft voice asked, opening the small stable door as it creaked, Nico turned around in the darkness, well... he rolled himself over and looked up at the tall looming figure in front of him. Nico pushed his arms back and sat in a crouched position. An awkward silence ensued. They both stood in silence for a while, since this person didn't kill him yet Nico had decided that it was safe to ask who they were. But before he could ask, the figure moved right into the moonlight perfectly so that you could see their face perfectly.

Blonde hair that looked grey in the moonlight, bright blue eyes that glowed even in darkness and a small smile. It was Jason.

"_What are you laughing at_?" He said again. Nico pursed his lips and began to talk- but then hostilely finished.

"None of your-"

"You didn't see me trip multiple times coming here did you? Or opening all the doors trying to find you..." Jason asked and nervously turned his fingers and looked Nico right in the eye. Nico once again, got distracted and thought of Jason doing those things, then chuckled a little again. Looking up and snapping out of it, he saw Jason raising an eyebrow.

Turns out Nico was easily distracted by himself and his own thoughts.

"You _did_ see that? Look I didn't mean to open all the doors- this place smells like horse by the way- but what were you doing down here I thought I needed to talk to you-" Jason trailed on. Another weird image of Jason covered in horse poop made Nico smile.

Turns out he also smiled when he was nervous.

"No. Jason, I didn't see you do all those things. But now I know you did." He mumbled. Jason bit his lip and nervously laughed.

"What are you doing down here?" Jason asked. Nico didn't answer. Jason's eyes trailed down to the remaining pomegranate seeds and shells on the ground. "Were you eating?"

Nico said nothing.

"How can you eat down here? It smells like... horse stuff." Jason wrinkled his nose.

"Well I've been eating here ever since I've been on the Argo. So I suppose I'm used to it." Nico said and breathed in deeply and sat up. Shaking his head, his hair flew all over the place.

"You ate a pomegranate? Is that _it_?" Jason pestered. "It's just weird." Jason sat down in front of him. Jason hadalways commented on how Nico's eating habits were weird, since they had met. Nico looked to his side and mumbled.

"I'm just not hungry."

His stomach growled mercilessly. Nico quickly looked up at Jason and alarmingly pressed his lips together.

"Are you sure...?" Jason asked.

_Damn my stomach._ Nico thought as it growled again.

"I don't _care_." He whispered.

Another awkward silence. Those happened to stick around Nico often.

"Aren't you going to ask me about what happened at Split?" Nico aggressively asked Jason. He didn't want to wait for him to ask. Jason looked surprised.

"I-"

"What?"

"We can talk about it if you _want-_" Jason says, going soft.

"No thanks." He mumbles coldly. The topic of Percy seemed to turn on his "hostile" switch. "Now if you wouldn't mind getting out of my way-"

"Nico..." Jason warily says. "Actually I wanted to talk to you about something-"

"What?" Nico asks and stands up, looking down at Jason sitting on the ground.

"Well..." Jason stopped and his face looked as if it was about to explode. "Well..."

"Well?"

"Uh..." Jason started to stand up. "Well..."

"Is that your whole vocabulary? Um and well?"

"No- uh- Oh gods sorry." Jason smacks his face. Nico looks at the guy's face and then weakens a little. "What are we doing with the scepter when we get back to camp?" Jason asks quickly.

"I don't know." Nico mumbles. "Chiron said we needed it for something- so I guess we need it for something."

"And uh-" Jason looks as if he's about to smack a hole in the wall. "Im sorry for saying uh so much, well, oh gods."

"Stop stammering." Nico snaps. "What?"

"About Percy-"

"No." Nico says and steps past Jason, just as he's about to go upstairs Jason says something.

"I'm here if you want to talk." He says.

Nico walks away, ignoring those words and the whole day as best as he could.

* * *

**[A/N: Just a reminder that this _is _an AU in more ways than one. So there's no Gaea "war". Thanks and hope you enjoyed!]**


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